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Bush butternut tree
If Trees Could Talk: Famous Trees around Washington

If Trees Could Talk: Famous Trees around Washington

We have many historically significant trees in Washington, and many State Archives records document the people and events related to the state’s most historic trees. Although State Archives collections mainly consist of state and local government records, many archival collections also contain photographs. Archivist Jewell Dunn recently turned up one of the last photos of the Medicine Creek tree after it was topped by an arborist to be preserved. The plaque seen in the Medicine Creek tree photo at right…

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Ask an Archivist
Ask an Archivist Day at EWU

Ask an Archivist Day at EWU

Debbie Bahn, the Electronic Records Archivist at the Digital Archives, and Eastern Washington University graduate intern Whitney Wyngaert manned the table at EWU’s John F. Kennedy Memorial Library in Cheney on Wednesday, October 3. Bahn, Wyngaert, and EWU archivist Steve Bingo engaged with more than 30 students in two hours, describing the resources and educational opportunities available at the Washington State Archives as well as archival careers. Deputy State Archivist Terry Badger provided an antique “magic lantern” slide projector to use…

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Exploring the old school records of the State Archives

Exploring the old school records of the State Archives

It’s September and the start of a new academic year, so the branches of the Washington State Archives are abuzz with new and returning student interns. This inspired us to think about about school records, so let’s explore what Archives’ school collections encompass. Some of the records we have are from either the state or county levels, including: maps for school boundaries, bus routes, teacher contracts, superintendents’ reports, school annual reports, county school district audit examinations, school censuses, yearbooks, and…

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Photograph of Civilian Conservation Corp members enjoying the swimming and fishing facilities of Camp Moran, July 1934.
State Parks and Rec gives thanks for massive CCC photo-scanning project

State Parks and Rec gives thanks for massive CCC photo-scanning project

The Washington State Archives’ Digital Projects Archivists Maggie Cogswell and Mary Hammer led the way in completing a massive, 11-year project digitizing and cataloging photos of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) from the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. This collection of 2,396 photographs shows work conducted on Washington state parks by the CCC from 1933 to 1938, and includes images of Moran, Lewis and Clark, Deception Pass, Millersylvania, Riverside, Rainbow Falls, Carkeek, Denny Park, Mt. Spokane, Saltwater, Beacon Rock,…

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Archivist Maggie Cogswell
Scrapbooking and Oral History: Lessons from the pros

Scrapbooking and Oral History: Lessons from the pros

Summer is a tricky time to put on an event at the Olympia Archives Building. Who wants to take time during a sun-drenched Saturday in August to huddle up in the dark confines of a windowless research room? History buffs and genealogists — that’s who! Our “Scrapbooking and Oral Histories with the Pros” event brought together an enthusiastic crowd of family researchers who clung to the words of the amazing presenters from the Washington State Archives and Legacy Washington, which…

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cemetery headstones
A tribute to “Cemetery Lady” and State Archives friend Maggie Rail

A tribute to “Cemetery Lady” and State Archives friend Maggie Rail

“Some people collect spoons. Maggie Rail counts dead people,” the Seattle Times observed in a 2012 profile of a familiar, and now dearly-missed, friend of the Washington State Archives. She spent an inconceivable amount of time, even by the standards of professional archivists, doing what fellow enthusiasts call “reading” Washington and Idaho cemeteries to collect ephemeral information off headstones. Years of this work made self-proclaimed “Cemetery Lady” Maggie Rail, who died April 26 in Spokane, the largest single provider of cemetery…

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Washington Supreme Court 1962
Exploring court records in the Washington State Archives

Exploring court records in the Washington State Archives

Not Judge Judy’s court? Then which court is it? Since there are many uses for court records, a large number of Archives users come in to access them for genealogical study, book research, school lesson planning, legal exploration, and still more purposes. Finding court records can be a daunting task. Knowing the jurisdiction in which a case was heard is the most important information. The next information a person needs is the cause, case, or file number in hand. Cases…

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History Day winners
History Day: Vancouver students win state, compete in nationals

History Day: Vancouver students win state, compete in nationals

Washington State Archives Southwest Regional Archivist Tracy Rebstock proudly announces that the state’s top Junior Division 2018 History Day project comes from Pleasant Valley Middle School in Vancouver. Washington’s History Day is an annual contest conducted by National History Day, a nonprofit organization that engages students and teachers from across the United States to do original research on a topic of their choice and present it as a project. Original research on historical topics is right up the State Archives’…

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Spokane and the Great War

Spokane and the Great War

A century ago, more than 10,000 Spokane residents served in the military as soldiers, sailors, and marines in World War I. More than 180 of them didn’t come back. Now, through the diligent work of State Archives graduate assistant Joshua Van Veldhuizen with the long-neglected public records in the Spokane War Committee cards, the experiences of Spokaneites before, during, and in the wake of the First World War have been chronicled at Spokane Goes To War.  To convert the old…

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Archives Spotlight: The Legislative Building turns 90

Archives Spotlight: The Legislative Building turns 90

In the quiet of the post-Legislative session interim period, the 90th anniversary of the Washington Capitol‘s opening to the public passed without a formal observance on March 28. Perhaps that was fitting. The Legislative Building went without a grand opening party back in 1928 because of a political dispute over the perceived largesse of building and furnishing a $7 million government building. The Legislative Building was constructed over much of the 1920s. Architects Walter Wilder and Harry White, whose plan…

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